


The Great Speedykidstorm Road Trip

by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bonding, Camping, Gen, Haunted Houses, Kinda, Platonic Relationships, Road Trips, Wally documents everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 08:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/pseuds/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz
Summary: Thea, Wally, and Jax decide to cut lose, take a break, and road trip across the country for an adventure that doesn't involve defending their cities or time.





	The Great Speedykidstorm Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

  * For [harleygirl2648](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harleygirl2648/gifts).



> Happy birthday to my birthday buddy, @somebodyhelpthenotdeadfreds/harleygirl2648! I finally decided to write the road trip fic we talked so much about at the end of last year and kept adding onto. Hopefully it's what you dreamed it would!
> 
> I muddled with canon a little here since I'm behind on watching Arrow. Wally never left Team Flash and joined the Legends, Thea never left Team Arrow (yet), and Stein survived the crossover.

Thea had been the one who came up with the idea.

“You want to do what?” Jax repeated, unsure that he had heard Thea’s sentence correctly.

“Yeah,” Wally nodded, setting down his coffee cup. “Can you repeat that?”

“A road trip,” Thea told them. “You know, travel somewhere in a car and experience all kinds of adventures along the way. The three of us are still young, and we should at least have one adventure not related to our other lives.”

               Jax exchanged a look with Wally. The two of them had started to get close over the summer after Rip had disbanded the Legends, then again once Jax left the Waverider for good with Grey. Thea had eventually come into the fold too. They were some of the youngest heroes and it allowed them to build up a comradery. Now, whenever they could make it, the trio got together to talk or go do something in Central or Star City as a group, but Thea was proposing something new.

“How long have you been thinking about this?” Jax asked her.

Thea shrugged. “About two weeks to get across the country and back, maybe a little longer.

“It’s an idea,” Wally nodded. “I’m on board. I’m kinda in the mood to get out of Central for a while.”

There was something else unspoken, but Jax and Thea knew better than to press. They all had their damages, more than people their age should have. Sometimes you couldn’t push a person to talk and this was one of those times.

“It could be a lot of fun,” Jax mused thoughtfully.

“So we’re really going to do this?” Wally asked. “We’re going to road trip?”

“Yep,” Thea confirmed as Jax nodded, starting to feel excited about the possibility of a road trip.

“Great,” Jax took a swig of his coffee. “So where do we want to go to?”

Wally closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. “What if we went to the other end of the country? Like New York? Or Gotham?”

“Not Gotham,” Jax shook his head. “I don’t care how much you think it’s aesthetically pleasing. That place is nuts.”

“Says the man who used to be half of a superhero and lives in a town of metahumans,” Wally muttered beside him.

“You live here too.”

“Okay, we’ll figure our final destination as we go, but how about we agree that the east coast is the goal,” Thea suggested.

“Fair enough,” Jax agreed.

“Cool by me,” Wally nodded. “I can work on plotting a course for us tonight.”

“Done deal,” Thea smiled. “This is going to be great.”

* * *

 

               A week later, the plans for the road trip were finalized. All the parties who needed the information had been notified of the plans. The path they were taking was all mapped out. Thea, Jax, and Wally all had their assignments for preparing for the journey. The biggest one on the list was a car.

Luckily, one had been obtained from the old woman who owned a station wagon Jax was revamping for her on the weekend. The vehicle had gone on road trips to national parks when the woman’s kids were young and her husband was still alive, and she willing to let them use it for their trip. Jax and Wally had tried to work out payment with her, but she waved them off when they tried to give her money. She just asked that they tell her all about it when they got back and to bring some photos too.

               On Friday, the three of them loaded into the station wagon with their bags, snacks, and everything else they’d decided they needed. Jax was in the driver’s seat with Wally zipping into shotgun before Thea could call it. After calling out the speedster on how they needed to change the shotgun rule, the archer stretched out in the backseat of the station wagon. Jax started the car and drove out of the city as Thea gave him instructions.

Wally proceeded to take a few pictures of them.

* * *

 

“Day one of the road trip, and we’re officially on our way to the east coast! Hopefully we’ll make it there in one piece.”

“Wally, what are you doing?”

“I’m making a vlog, Jax,” Wally turned the camera away from the road ahead of them to where Jax was sitting in the driver’s seat. “It’s an account of our adventures.”

“How come you’re doing that?” Jax frowned as he glanced at Wally briefly.

“Because we can prove to people that we actually did something wild and spontaneous and didn’t just fight bad guys all the time.”

“Wally’s got a point,” Thea chimed in from the backseat.

The speedster turned the camera toward her. “And here we have the backseat exile who is also funding this whole thing.”

“We really have to change shotgun rules since we have you with us,” she muttered.

“We’ll do it next time when I pull over and we switch drivers,” Jax promised.

“See, you can get shotgun then,” Wally compromised. “Now, tell us about yourself.”

Thea smirked. “My name’s Thea Queen. I have an older brother and another who’s dead. I like mai tais and long walks on the beach. Also, I’ve somehow decided I want to spend part of the summer months driving around with these two idiots who-”

“Okay, Thea, thanks!” Wally pulled the camera away from her and focused on Jax. “Currently driving is Jefferson Jackson. We just call him Jax though. He’s the coolest dude ever and he’s how we got this hot ride.”

“Oh yeah,” Jax grinned. “Mrs. Wilson deserves our thanks. We should get her something during this.”

“Couldn’t you have given her one of your historical souvenirs?”

“This would be more personal though,” their driver shrugged. “Anyways, we’ve got another few hours before we’re pulling over, getting lunch and gas, and switching drivers. You down to drive, Wally?”

“Sure. Where do we want to get to by tonight?”

“Didn’t we say we wanted to get to Arizona by tonight?” Thea asked. “The Grand Canyon was on our list of stuff to see.”

* * *

 

               Iris’s phone chimed just as she finished typing another line on her article. Picking it up, she saw Wally had sent her something and unlocked her phone. In her messages, there was a picture of Wally, Thea, and Jax. They all wore sunglasses and had big grins on their faces with her brother lifting up a sandwich.

_Four hours in and we haven’t killed each other._

* * *

 

               Wally drove for a couple of hours before they traded off drivers once again. Thea was next up while the previous driver crashed in the backseat with his phone. Jax had run off for a pee break during the change-up. He ended up having to speed up when Thea started laying on the horn.

“Let a man use the can in peace,” he grumbled when he got back into the car.

“Hey, we gotta make Arizona by the end of the night,” Thea shrugged.

“Just drive.”

“Fine.”

A few hours later, they were shooting down one of the lesser highways Thea had deemed a shortcut.

“We’re going to get pulled over if you don’t ease up on the gas,” Jax warned.

Thea shrugged, her hair whipping around with the open window. “We’re fine.”

“I mean, I can outrun the car if we were racing,” Wally said from the backseat.

“No,” Jax shook his head. “That’s a bad idea.”

Thea snorted. “It’s like Stein’s still in your head.”

“He left a big impact on me. I learned more responsibility.”

“Jax, I’m very good at spotting police,” Thea assured him. “I’ll know when to slow down, but I will get us to Arizona by sundown.”

“Hey, I know we’re seeing the Grand Canyon tomorrow, but can we go through Nevada more on the way back?”

The two up in the front glanced back at Wally with puzzlement.

“What?” he shrugged. “They’ve got some cool stuff there. The Hollywood Car Museum’s in Vegas. Plus there’s the alien lore.”

“There’s alien stuff in New Mexico, we could pass through there tomorrow to Colorado?” Thea suggested.

Jax nodded. “We could do that, but I’m with Wally. We go see that museum on the way back.”

* * *

Night fell, but the trio managed to pull into the motel they had planned to stay at. Jax had taken the wheel again and had to admit that Thea had saved them a bit of time. Wally had been looking up food options that were not the snack foods they’d packed. Tomorrow, they were going to have to get supper sooner before all the places closed.

A room was checked out for the night with a pullout. Pizza was ordered and picked up by Wally. Thea turned on the television and went to a random station. They watched some old family show while munching on pizza. Then Jax claimed the remote and switched to another station that had just started playing a movie.

“What’s this?” Wally asked through a mouthful of pizza.

“Not sure,” Thea muttered. “Not one I’ve seen before.”

“It’s _Halloween_ ,” Jax told them. “I’ve seen it a couple times before. Neither of you have seen it?”

Thea and Wally shook their heads.

“Well, sit back and relax. You’re in for a treat.”

* * *

 

Wally denied he screamed during the movie.

* * *

“Good morning on day two of the great road trip adventure. We’ve had breakfast and now we’re getting ready to hit the road to the Grand Canyon, then onto Colorado.”

“Wally, you have the camera going?”

“Yeah, Jax, what’s up?”

“Yes, I’d like to make an announcement to the world,” Jax leaned into view of the camera. “Thea Queen knows no fear and lives on the edge.”

“Oh, come on, Jax!”

“No, she does. She drinks orange juice after she brushes her teeth. After!”

“You’re making a big deal out of it.”

“It’s gross.

“It doesn’t bother me,” the girl shrugged. “You don’t have to be jealous of my tolerance.”

“You don’t even taste it? Not even a little?”

“I’m with Jax. I can’t even do that.”

“Hey, it’s not horrible. Look, that’s not the goal. We’re close to the Grand Canyon. Let’s go see it.”

* * *

 

_She asked me to take a picture of her doing this_. _-Wally_

John Diggle shook his head at the picture Wally West had sent him on Thea’s phone. The younger Queen sibling was doing a handstand with the Grand Canyon in the background.

* * *

 

Wally West was not just one of the fastest men in the world. People didn’t look beyond that aspect of him. In addition to being brilliant and taking aesthetically pleasing photographs, he also could make a killer playlist. He had forgotten to pull it out the day before, but now they had it going on a loop in the station wagon through a speaker he’d brought.

“Dude, you need to make a playlist for Team Arrow,” Thea crowed from shotgun, which she had actually managed to claim ahead of Wally today. “I could use some music to work out to in the bunker. Felicity would probably appreciate it for hacking.”

“I could put something together after this,” Wally told him. “I’m glad that you guys like it.”

“It’s amazing,” Jax agreed. “I wish I’d had this when I was with the Legends. Would have made time jumping a lot more fun.”

“I’ll send the links to you two. Now crank it up a little.”

Thea grinned as she turned up the volume on the AC/DC song. “You could add a little speed for this song, Jax.”

“Hell. No.”

“Okay, old man.”

* * *

 

“Guys,” Jax said after swallowing the bite of tamale during lunch. “You know, Wally could take a great photo here. Or we take one with all of us.”

“What kind of photo?” Thea asked.

Jax grinned. “Did you ever watch Looney Tunes when you were younger?”

Wally grinned as he remembered the town they were in. “I like the way you think, Jax.”

* * *

 

Wally put a timer on his camera to take a shot of the three of them in front of the Albuquerque city sign. All of them were miming various states of confusion and befuddlement.

They captioned it with ‘ _Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque_ ’.

* * *

 

Jax watched from the backseat as they passed through the town. “We can totally say we visited Las Vegas.”

“Yeah, we just leave out that it was in New Mexico and let people assume it was the famous one in Nevada,” Thea agreed, taking a sip from her water bottle.

“But we’re still going to visit the real Vegas on the way back, or at least a drive-by?” Wally asked hopefully.

Thea grinned. “Yes, and you and Jax can get married in one of the chapels there.”

“You’re hilarious,” Jax deadpanned. “Just hope we don’t leave you at the next rest stop.”

“I love you too, Jax,” Thea smirked. “Now go back to the story you were telling about Stein. I need to hear how it ends.”

“Okay,” Jax nodded. “So we found the device Stein wanted to get just as his younger self comes bolting back in. He gets upset and thinks we’re trying to steal it, so Stein starts to flounder with something else. Marty wasn’t happy with that and was probably going to get campus security. That’s when Sara knocked him out with a bong.”

Thea choked on her water. “She did what?”

“She hit Stein’s younger self with a bong?” Wally wheezed with laughter. “That’s insane!”

“Yeah, and it shut him up him too,” Jax snickered at the memory. “Sara stole some of joints on the way out.”

Thea shook her head with a smile. “When Sara first came back to Starling after six years, she was quiet. I could tell even then that she’d gone through a lot of trauma. She never really cut loose, even after she died and came back. Hearing that she’s able to cut lose with the Legends, it’s relieving. She deserves it.”

“She still has bad days sometimes. For the most part though, she’s happy with her life.”

The car was silent save for the Arctic Monkeys song.

“Well, on that note,” Wally cleared his throat. “Who’s next for storytime?”

Jax pointed up at shotgun. “Thea.”

“Hey, Wally hasn’t gone either!”

“Well, I’m driving.”

“You can talk and drive.”

“I need time to think of a good one. You go.”

Thea rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “I have a few from Oliver’s party days.”

Jax leaned forward. “I’ve heard of some of those.”

“Those were the ones that made it to the tabloids,” Thea corrected. “I have all the stories, including the ones that didn’t make it to the press.”

“Is the peeing on the cop story real?” Wally asked her.

“Oh yeah, that happened,” she nodded. “But there’s a lot more to it.”

“Then tell us all the details.”

* * *

 

“Orange one.”

“Nope.”

“What?” Wally shook his head. “Come on, it’s orange.”

“It’s more red than orange,” Jax countered. “I’m ruling it out.”

Wally kept his stance. “That car is totally orange!”

“The car is red. Keep looking, man.”

“It’s orange.”

“No, it’s red!”

“We need a third opinion,” Wally sighed, looking into the backseat.

Jax glanced into the backseat quickly, then forward again to focus on the road. “She fell asleep twenty minutes ago.”

Wally looked at him hopefully. “Thea can settle this once and for all.”

“Yeah, then she’ll start kicking my seat again. Besides, the car is red.”

“I’m waking her up,” Wally decided. “It’s orange and she’ll agree with me.”

Jax sighed. “Fine. Is she drooling?”

Wally looked back again. “A little. Her sunglasses are hanging off her face.”

“Take a photo, then wake her up.”

“Gotcha,” Wally snapped the picture, then grabbed one of their last Slim Jims and poked Thea in the leg with it. “Thea!”

She inhaled and sat up. “Mmm-huh?”

“We need you to settle a debate,” Wally explained. “Jax and I are playing the Rainbow Car game.”

“Wait, what?”

“You know, the game where you have to find the colors of cars in the order of the rainbow?”

“Oh yeah,” Thea yawned. “That one.”

“Wally thinks the car ahead of us counts as orange. But don’t you think it’s more of a red?”

Thea leaned forward to get a look at the vehicle. “It’s orange.”

“What?!” Jax squawked as Wally whooped beside him. “No, no way!”

“That car is orange,” Thea said. “It’s pretty close, but it’s just barely counting as orange to me.”

“Thank you, Thea,” Wally grinned triumphantly. “You’re the best.”

“No problem,” she stretched out her arms. “I need to wake up anyways. How long was I out for?”

“Twenty minutes,” Jax told her.

“Oh nice.”

Jax’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was his mother calling. Thea leaned over his seat to peek.

“Answer it,” she told him. “Go on.”

“I’m not letting it go to voicemail,” he replied, accepting the call. “Hey, Mom.”

* * *

 

               The trio stopped at a diner in Colorado for supper. All three of them were somewhat worn out after the long day they’d had. Thea would be taking the wheel to get them to Colorado Springs, or at least somewhere close to it. After all, she was the fastest driver of the three of them and they were running a little behind.

“Just make sure you don’t get us pulled over,” Wally told her after they ordered their food.

“I will not get us pulled over,” Thea promised “We’re going to make it through this road trip without breaking the law.”

“Yeah, not breaking the law would be great,” Jax agreed, scrolling on his phone. “We’re going to be driving through rain tomorrow.”

“Great,” Wally sighed. “No rolling down the windows then.”

“At least the car doesn’t have holes in the roof,” Thea said. “It could be worse too. We could have to drive through snow.”

“She’s right,” Jax agreed. “We might need to get more snacks too because someone has a super metabolism and keeps running around whenever we stop for gas.”

“It gets cramped up in here,” Wally protested. “Excuse me for taking the chance to go out and run when I get it.”

“Either way, we need more snacks,” Thea said. “If the weather gets bad enough tomorrow, then we can pull over somewhere and what we need.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

* * *

 

               Thea floored it after they got out of the diner. Wally cranked up another one of his playlists as they sped down the road. He also added a little more to the vlog of the trip. Jax kept looking out the window most of the time to make sure they weren’t coming up on any police. They had one close call, but Thea slowed down in enough time to make sure they didn’t get pulled over.

               They managed to hit the outskirts of Colorado Springs two hours after leaving the diner. When they got to their room, Thea flopped spread-eagle across ones of the beds and fell soundly asleep. Jax and Wally tried to move her longways, so she would be more comfortable. There was no pullout in this room and the chairs weren’t comfortable, so the two ended up sharing a bed together.

When Jax woke up the next morning, he was freezing. Rolling over, he found Wally hogging all of the covers. Thea was grinning over at him with a wild bedhead. Jax grabbed the camera to take a picture of Wally in his blanket burrito.

* * *

 

               After the trio checked out of the hotel, the next stop that morning was breakfast. The sun was shrouded by dark clouds, giving an eerie feel as they loaded up. Thea had apparently woken up in the middle of the night while the boys were asleep and had watched a bunch of infomercials. When they stopped off at an IHOP in Colorado Springs, she ended up falling asleep in the booth. Wally took a picture just as she woke up.

“Delete that.”

“It’s for the memories!” he protested. “It’s not like it’s been the first one.”

Jax elbowed him. Thea eyed them suspiciously.

“What do you mean it’s not the first one?”

“Hey, who’s ready to order?”

* * *

 

               The rain began to sprinkle on them just as they left the IHOP. Jax drove them out of Colorado Springs as it began to grow heavier. The car was quiet, everyone’s moods dulled down by the rain. It was chilly, so Thea wrapped up in a spare blanket. The trio played the Rainbow Car game again as they drove through the downpour.

               When they reached Kansas, lightning began to crop up quite a bit. Jax decided that they were going to need to pull over and switch soon. He took them off an exit ramp towards a town where they could get gas and stock up on some snacks. Fortunately, there was a superstore in the nearby the gas station, so they decided to go there.

               An hour later, Wally, Jax and Thea emerged from the store. They had trail mix, pretzels, jerky, and a tub of cheese puffs, along with a small case of water. In addition to the food, Wally had bought a large inflatable duck inner tube that one might use in a pool, Thea bought some fuzzy socks and nail polish, and Jax got a rain poncho since he’d forgotten to pack and he wanted on in the event they broke down in the rain. All of them had gotten sleeping bags after Thea persuaded them that they should all sleep out at a campsite at some point in the trip.

“Why did you feel the need to buy the duck?” Thea asked as they loaded their stuff into the car to get back on the road.

“Because we’re going to the east coast and I want to hit up a beach with this baby,” Wally answered. “Plus, it’s pretty awesome.”

“Glad I remembered to pack a bikini.”

“It’d be a good way to celebrate making it across the country,” Jax said. “We should definitely go to a beach.”

* * *

 

               Oliver drummed his fingers on the countertop as he waited for his sister to pick up the phone. It had been three days since she had left on her trip with Wally and Jax. She promised that she would call in at some point or give him an update of some kind. He had gotten a few pictures, but nothing since Arizona. He didn’t mean to be an overprotective brother, but he was a little worried about her.

“Hello?” Thea answered after the phone range for a while.

“Thea,” Oliver sighed in relief. “I thought you said you were going to check in with me?”

“Oh shit, yeah. Sorry, Ollie.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re okay. Where are you guys right now?”

“Kansas. We’re planning to reach Missouri tonight. It’s been pretty fun so far. We’ve seen a lot of great stuff so far.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Oliver said, walking around the counter to the couches. “How are Wally and Jax?”

“Those two,” Thea’s voice was filled with mirth. “They’re great company. Wow, Jax, Wally’s trying to drive! Quit trying to make out with him.”

“Thea, give me the damn phone!” Jax’s shout came from in the background.

“Why? My brother doesn’t want to hear you two sucking face!”

“THEA!”

“Oh my god, you two.”

Oliver sighed and shook his head. At least they were still alive.

* * *

 

               Thea had been the one who handled getting the hotel that night for them in Kansas City. As they neared the city, Wally took it upon himself to finally look it up. Once he saw what the Savoy Hotel had to offer, it made him excited and nervous. He decided to start another installment in the vlog.

“We’re getting closer to the end of day three and we’re all still alive,” the speedster began. “Tonight, we’re pulling off in Kansas City, where Thea got us a hotel for the night.”

“Not a problem,” Thea grinned over at the camera before looking back ahead at the road.

“It was nice of her to do that,” Jax agreed from the backseat.

“Yeah, yeah, it was. Jax, uh, would you do me a favor and look it up on your phone. It’s called the Savoy Hotel and Grill. It just reopened.”

“Sure, hold on.”

Wally waited patiently as Jax did so. Thea sat quietly, but her lips were pressed in a thin line.

“Oh, hell no!” Jax shouted suddenly. “Thea, come on.”

“What?” she protested. “It’s a historic place!”

“And a supposedly haunted one,” Wally added. “You didn’t mention that.”

“You don’t mess with ghosts, Thea,” Jax grumbled.

“Ghosts aren’t real.”

Wally frowned. “We live in a world where people have powers and time travel is real, but you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“Yeah, Thea, didn’t you kinda die?” Jax asked.

“I got better. Don’t worry about the hotel, we’re going to be fine.”

* * *

 

               By the time they got to the Hotel, the trio had been in a long discussion about the paranormal and weird in the world. All of them believed in aliens since they had actually seen them. Thea did not believe that there was such a thing as ghosts or demons. Jax was willing to believe in them thanks to his travels on the Waverider, but he had his hesitations. Wally had the most solid belief in ghosts and wondered if he’d be able to see some kind of paranormal activity.

               Once they arrived and checked in, they decided to wander around the city a little. Wally took some pictures of Jax and Thea, who would trade the camera off with him. They got some barbecue and walked around a little more before getting back to their hotel and checked in with their families. Eventually, Thea pulled out the nail polish and pedicures decided to happen for everyone before the idea came along to make rum and cokes and play some games.

               Wally volunteered to run Thea out so they could get the drinks and some cups. That left Jax with getting the ice. After his companions left, he made his way out into the hallway with the bucket. He was in the process of filling it up when he felt something pass by him. When he spun around, there was nothing there save for empty hallway.

“Hello?” he called out.

No one replied to him. Jax shuddered and continued to get ice.

“Let me in.”

               The voice was barely a whisper. However, Jax still heard it. The hairs on his arms prickled up at the sound of it. He looked around again, but found no one there. He remembered how they’d looked up the hauntings that happened in the hotel. Quickly, he grabbed the bucket and made a beeline back to his room.

* * *

 

               Thea woke up in the middle of the night. She could hear the faintest strains of music being played somewhere. It didn’t sound like anything current. If anything, it sounded like something that would be listened to on the radio in the twenties or thirties. Whether it was their neighbors or someone else, it was unnerving.

               A chill suddenly went along Thea’s leg. Perhaps it was the night shadows playing with her mind, but she now felt a little fearful. Silently, she slipped out of her bed and moved over to where the boys were asleep. Wally stirred and woke as she moved onto the mattress.

“Thea?” he mumbled.

“Scooch over,” she said.

Wally complied, and Thea squeezed in further. She could still hear the music.

“Do you hear that?” Wally asked softly.

Thea nodded. “This place is creepy.”

“It’s haunted.”

“It’s probably our neighbors.”

“At four am?”

She shrugged. “Thanks for letting me slip in.”

“It’s okay.”

* * *

 

“We survived the night in the Savoy Hotel,” Wally said, pulling up his camera again as they walked back to the station wagon after checking out. “How’s everyone holding up?”

“I did not expect that place was going to get so creepy at night.”

“It’s haunted, Thea. What else would you think to happen?”

“It’s not haunted. That music could have been our neighbors.”

“Four in the morning, Thea. Four.”

“Okay, fine, that was strange.”

“I heard a voice asking to be let in while I was getting ice,” Jax added. “I’m with Wally. It’s haunted.”

Wally grinned. “Two to one, Thea. What do you have to say?”

“It wasn’t haunted,” she shrugged. “But I’d like to change the subject.”

“Sure, what do you have to say?”

“Jax, you are never allowed to call me out on being able to drink orange juice after brushing my teeth. Not when you put ketchup on your eggs.”

“Oh come on, it’s not that weird!”

“It’s gross!”

“No, it’s not! Wally, back me up here.”

Wally grimaced.

“E tu, Wally?”

* * *

 

               The road there were on didn’t offer too much for scenery. For hours, crop fields were all the scenery that was offered, aside from a few forests far off in the distance. There were a few farms and small towns that they drove past. Other than that, there wasn’t a whole lot else to offer.

Eventually, Thea surprised her companions on a long stretch of road that they were taking as a shortcut. She was in the backseat of the car before leaning into the way back to pull something out. Jax only looked in the review mirror when he heard the window being rolled down. His eyes widened when he saw what Thea had in her hands.

“Thea, what is that?”

“Well, Jax, this is a bow, and this is an arrow.”

“We see that,” Wally said. “Why do you have it? We’re not going on to be one-night vigilantes, are we?”

“I mean, we totally could?” she shrugged. “But I was planning to see if I could peg one of the uber religious billboards.”

“You want to shoot a billboard?”

“Just the ones about going to hell,” Thea muttered. “I’m not a huge fan of how they’re getting this message across.”

Wally gave a nod. “So you think you can peg the next one we’re coming up on?”

“It’s likely,” Thea began to stick herself out of the open window.

Jax glanced back at her. “Whatever you do, don’t fall out the window. I don’t want to tell your brother his sister got messed up trying to shoot a billboard.”

“I’ll be fine.”

A moment later, Thea let the arrow fly from her bow. As they drove by, it hit its mark on the very edge of the billboard.

“Did she get it?” Jax asked. “I didn’t see where it went.”

Wally grinned and disappeared in a flash of lightning. A moment later, he reappeared back in his seat. His camera was in his hands.

“She made it,” Wally said triumphantly.

* * *

 

               It was another hour before the trio stopped for lunch, gas, and a change of drivers. Jax took the backseat, his head bobbing as they kept driving on. Thea and Wally kept looking back at him through the mirror or craning their necks around quick to see if he’d succumbed to sleep yet. So far, he’d come close, but then shaken his head quickly. Now he was back in that head bobbing rhythm.

When his phone started to ring, Jax didn’t notice it. Thea reached into the cupholder where it was an answered it.

“Hello?”

“Thea?” the voice at the other end inquired. “What are you doing with Jefferson’s phone?”

“He’s kinda tired,” she replied as Jax began to come back to the world of the living a little more. “Who is this?”

“Professor Martin Stein.”

“Ohhhh,” Thea nodded. “What up, Weedman?”

Wally burst out laughing. Jax snickered loudly.

“I beg your pardon?” Stein said in alarm on the other end.

Jax held out his hand. “Thea, give me my phone back.”

She passed it over. Her friend shook his head at her as he put the phone up to his ear. “Hey, Grey. How are you?”

He paused, listening as Wally chuckled and shook his head.

“I think it’s six,” Jax said finally. “They’ve won a lot.”

“Who have?” Wally asked as Jax signed off on the call.

“The Steelers,” Jax explained. “The Steins are playing trivia. Grey just used a call in to get an answer for the question about how many Super Bowls they’ve won.”

“Six Super Bowls?” Thea whistled. “That’s a lot.”

“Yeah, Pittsburgh holds the record. Back in school, I memorized how many wins each team had. Actually helped me out on a test once when I associated some terms with teams.”

“Oh sweet,” Wally nodded. “So where do we want to stay tonight?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Thea suggested. “What if we stop off at a campsite and sleep there? I’m pretty sure we can find a place that rents tents.”

“We did get those sleeping bags,” Jax remembered. “It could be pretty fun to do. Have you two been camping before?”

“Nope,” Wally shook his head. “Never got a chance. Mom always wanted to though.”

“Me neither,” Thea chimed in. “Except for one time when my class did a field trip and when I went with Ollie to Lian Yu. Although that trip wasn’t really relaxing since we had a murderer after us.”

Jax looked between the two of them. “So none of us have ever camped out before?”

“I guess not,” the speedster shrugged. “But we’ll be fine. After all, it can’t be worse than sleeping in a haunted hotel.”

“ _Supposedly_ haunted.”

“Sure, Thea.”

* * *

 

               Once they got out of Indiana, Thea began to look for camp sites that they could settle in at for the night. There was no rain in the forecast, so they could easily sleep outside of the tent if they wanted too. They made another pit stop at a store along the way to pick up food supplies for dinner at a campfire. Jax had once made hobo dinners in the backyard of his friend’s house in high school, so he took charge in getting all the things they would need for that. Wally got the necessities for s’mores with Thea.

               Jax, Wally, and Thea made it to the campgrounds with plenty of time to get a campsite and a tent. They spent a little time wandering through the woods while Wally took some more pictures and made another vlog recording. Then they went back to make the hobo dinners with the fire that they slowly brought to life. As they waited for the packets to cook, they sat around it to watch the flames.

“I didn’t think we were going to be able to get this started,” Thea confessed.

“Yeah,” Jax nodded. “If I was with Grey and still had my powers, I could have started it like that.”

He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

Thea looked over at him. “Do you miss it? Being Firestorm? Having powers?”

Jax exhaled slowly in response to the question.

“You don’t have to answer,” Thea told him.

“No, it’s fine,” Jax told her. “Yeah, I miss it. But it wouldn’t have been forever. I have to figure out who I’m going to be now that I don’t have powers. So far I’ve gotten closer to you guys, and you seem to like me even if I’m not a hero anymore like you two.”

“You’re still a hero,” Wally added. “Maybe you don’t have powers, but you’ve saved a lot of people. That seems pretty heroic. No one can take that away from you.”

“Thanks,” Jax smiled. “Still trying to find my place in the world now.”

“Me too,” Wally nodded. “I feel that Team Flash is moving away from me.”

“Team Arrow’s changed a lot too, and the island blowing up didn’t help,” Thea murmured. “I don’t know if it’s where I’m still meant to be.”

Jax sighed. “Guess we’re all not sure what to do.”

“We could form our own hero group,” Wally joked. “Just travel around, stop the bad guys. Star and Central can’t be the only places with people trying to cause chaos. What about Opal and Midway and Fawcett and all the other cities out there?”

“A traveling band of heroes,” Jax chuckled as he picked up a stick to turn over the packets in the fire.

Thea grinned. “We’d need a name though.”

“This is a time where we’d need Cisco,” Wally lamented. “He always has good names. All I’ve got right now is Firespeeds.”

Jax snorted. “That sounds like a medication side effect.”

“I didn’t say it was good!” he protested as Thea snickered into her cup. “I’m just trying to blend out hero names together. Got any better ideas?”

Jax poked the fire with the stick a little more. “What about…Speedykidstorm?”

“Speedykidstorm,” Thea repeated, tasting the new word. “I like it.”

“Me too,” Wally agreed, raising his glass. “To Speedykidstorm.”

“Speedykidstorm,” Jax and Thea echoed, knocking their cups against his.

* * *

 

“Hey, are you two still awake?”

“Yeah, Wally, what’s up?”

“I know we were excited for camping and all, but…”

“It’s creepy with all the bugs making noise?”

“I’m with Thea,” Jax agreed. “And when they aren’t-”

“It’s too quiet,” Wally finished.

“This was a terrible idea.”

“Thea, this was your idea.”

“Yes, and I’m taking credit for it.”

The wind blew strongly against the tent.

“Did we peg this down?”

“No,” Wally said in the darkness. “But I think we’ll be fine unless Ohio gets a hurricane.”

Time ticked by as they all tried to stay awake. It was almost a half hour before any of them spoke again.

“Anyone want to go sleep in the station wagon?” Jax asked.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s do that.”

The trio ran to the car with their bags while Wally quickly deconstructed the tent.

* * *

 

The next morning, Wally woke up in the back of the station wagon. Peering up over the seat, he saw Thea stretched out in the back while Jax was curled up in the reclined front seat. Quietly, he pulled his camera out and started recording.

“It’s the morning of day five,” he said softly, keeping the camera on his face first. “We planned to sleep outside, but we realized we’re all a bunch of city kids and spend the rest of the night in the station wagon. Today, we’re shooting for New York. Tomorrow, we’re probably going to go to Connecticut, so we can have a beach day. Then the three of us are heading home.”

Wally turned the camera towards his sleeping companions. “They’re really good friends. I like traveling with them. We get along well together. All of us have been through more than most people would at our age. When I’m with them, I feel more normal than I’ve felt in a long time. Thea and Jax are amazing people. I’m lucky to know them.”

Jax shifted a little, still slumbering.

“Also, I’ve never met anyone who gave as great a pedicure as Thea does.”

* * *

 

               Once Jax and Thea were both awake, the three took turns changing in the backseat of the station wagon. Wally took the first turn and emerged in wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a broad grin. Jax and Thea got a kick out of it. As soon as Wally told Jax he had an extra one, Jax hopped into the car next to change into it. Thea chuckled and shook her head

“I feel left out,” she told Wally as they checked the campsite to make sure they hadn’t left any trash behind even though they’d picked up the previous night.

“Then you should have packed one,” Wally shrugged, earning a playful shove from Thea. “Hey, maybe we’ll find one somewhere on the way to New York?”

“Maybe,” Thea agreed. “Although I’ve got a suggestion about that.”

“Shoot.”

“Remember when we were first talking about this trip? And what our original destination could have been?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well,” Thea proposed. “Say we still have a beach day, but we do a small day stop somewhere else first.”

“What do you have in mind?”

* * *

 

               Bagels were their breakfast once they left the campgrounds and started the drive to New York. Wally took the wheel first, getting them further out of the Midwest. They belted out some old classics for a while before they started to run low on gas. Thea was next behind the wheel and managed almost to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That was when she pulled off so the trio could grab a bite to eat.

               Wally drove for a little while after lunch with the plan to switch over with Jax after an hour. Once Jax was back in the wheel, Wally cranked up another playlist as they cruised through the rest of Pennsylvania and into New Jersey. Spirits were high as they found parking and checked into their hotel, which was fortunately not haunted in any manner. The one downside was that it was too late for them to really go into New York and see anything. However, they could do that the next day and then drive up to Connecticut.

               Instead, the trio decided to make most of the time they did have. They crashed in their room for the night after dinner. A marathon of cartoons they hadn’t seen since they were kids was playing, so they tuned into that. There was a round of chubby bunny with cheese puffs that Jax failed miserably at while Wally dominated. Another session of pedicures and gossip about the different teams of heroes went down. Wally updated the vlog while Thea checked in with Oliver. Barry and Iris called in to check on them, and the trio proceeded to pull a range of shenanigans on them that left Iris laughing so hard she could barely get words out.

Even if they couldn’t see New York, it was still a great evening.

* * *

 

“I’m going to say this again,” Jax muttered in the backseat as they drove in the opposite direction of New York, which they hadn’t been to see yet. “This is a terrible idea.”

“It’s not terrible,” Thea replied. “It’ll be a fun side adventure.”

“Yeah,” Wally agreed. “I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t want to live there, but it’d be pretty cool to visit.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it, because there is no way I am walking around Gotham. I value my life too much.”

“Okay, but are you going to be safe if you stay in the car. In the same place. The entire time we’re here.”

“Ugh.”

“Jax, don’t worry,” Wally turned around. “We got each other’s backs here. If something happens, we can team up together.”

“Speedykidstorm, remember?” Thea called from where she was driving. “We won’t let anything happen to each other here. We just go here for a few hours, and then we turn around and go to New York again.”

Jax sighed. “Fine. But if anything happens to me there and I die, I’m haunting you two.”

“Yeah, because ghosts are real.” Thea rolled her eyes.

“You bet they are,” Wally told her seriously.

* * *

 

“So we took a detour from going to New York to see Gotham City,” Wally announced as he started the camera. “It’s pretty much exactly what I was expecting.”

“Dark and full of gothic architecture,” Thea summarized with a grin.

“Don’t forget creepy as hell,” Jax muttered.

“Oh don’t be such a party pooper.”

“Yeah, we had to do a lot of convincing to get Jax to join us. He didn’t really want to come here.”

“There’s a good reason for that.”

“Jax, you said you would rather eat glass than walk around Gotham.”

“I stand by that, Thea. Have you two seriously never heard of the crap that goes down in this town?”

“Sure,” Wally nodded. “But there’s a vigilante here too. Although we’ve never met the Batman.”

“Maybe we might one day,” Thea suggested. “Where do we want to go first?”

“How about some place that won’t get us killed?”

“Great idea, Jax. See, this won’t be so bad.”

“You know, I’m glad you have video going. I’ll have proof I was right when things do turn bad.”

* * *

 

“Wow,” Jax said as they looked out onto the city out below them from the top of the tower they were one. “Okay, this city has got problems, but it’s an awesome view.”

“Yup,” Thea agreed, her hair whipping around in the wind.

Wally grinned over at him. “Still regret coming with us?”

“A little,” he smirked. “But like you said, you guys have my back. All I want is to stay out of the worse parts of town.”

“Plenty of those around here.”

The trio turned around to see a man about their age in a black leather jacker. His smile was a little crooked as he walked over to them.

“Gotham runs a little rougher than most cities,” the man continued. “Still, that doesn’t mean all of us are street scum. Mostly, we’re all trying to get by as legally as we can.”

“You’re from here then?” Thea asked.

He nodded. “Yep. I actually lived on the streets a while before someone found me and took me under his wing.”

“Sounds pretty lucky.”

“Depends on your definition of lucky. But he’s a good man. Better than most with the circumstances he went through.”

“Sounds like some rough stuff,” Wally said. “We’ve all had that, although I don’t know if it’s on his magnitude.”

“Yeah,” the man frowned at Thea. “You won’t happen to be Thea Queen, would you?”

“Ding ding,” Thea murmured. “Surprised you recognize me. I haven’t been in the tabloids in a long time.”

“Usually that’s a good thing,” he shrugged before studying Wally and Jax. “You two look familiar too.”

“Never been in the papers,” Wally said.

“Yeah,” Jax shook his head. “Unless you were following high school football teams on the west coast.”

“No. But you do look familiar.”

Thea snorted. “Since you know who I am, can we ask who you are?”

“Jason,” he said, holding his hand out to the three of them. “Jason Todd.”

They all shook his hand. Thea narrowed her eyes slightly as she felt the calluses similar to her own when she grasped the offered hand.

“So, Jason Todd,” Wally paused. “Any places you can recommend to check out in Gotham?”

**Author's Note:**

> Eventually Speedykidstorm meets the Batfam and they join the road trip to NYC and go to the beach with them. 
> 
> Reviews=Love


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